Chime structures for barrels



June 25, 1963 H. MULDER 3,095,111

CHIME STRUCTURES FOR BARRELS Filed Nov. 4, 1960 United States Patent3,095,111 Cl-IllVIE STRUCTURES FOR BARRELS Harry Mulder, Akron, Ohio,assiguor to The Firestone Tifil's Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio, acorporation 0 0 Filed Nov. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 67,188 2 Claims. Cl. 22066)This invention relates to barrels and casks and the provision of aseparately fabricated, double-walled rim or chime for the end walls ofsaid barrels and casks.

More specifically, the invention is directed to the formation ofdisconnected chimes to be secured to and partly encircling the end wallof the barrel, such as a beer barrel, to serve multiple purposes ofprotecting the center tap fitting through which the barrel is filled,tapped and cleaned, and providing fiat planar surfaces for stackingother barrels, preferably with the aid of a board laid therebetween.

In the construction of barrels, especially the types of barrels used forstorage of liquids for human consumption, it is highly desirable toprovide an interior surface which will not rust, which can be easilycleaned and which will drain readily when inverted. These same featuresare also desirable in the storage of other types of liquids, such asindustrial liquors not intended for human consumption. In order toachieve some of these features it has been the practice in recent yearsto construct the barrel of corrosion resisting materials such asstainless steel by stamping operations and then welding together theseveral sections to form the completed barrel. During the course of thestamping operations, the various sections which go to make up thecompleted barrel, are provided with annular corrugations for purposes ofadding strength and rigidity; rolling surfaces by which the completedand filled barrel may be manually moved from place to place; and chimesor double-walled rims to facilitate standing the barrel upright oneither of its end walls or heads; and if a tap fitting is to project outwardly from one of the heads of the completed barrel, to form the chimesso that they will project higher than the tap fitting so as to protectit against blows which might damage it so as to render useless theentire barrel.

The interior surface of the completed barrel thus presents a profile ofridges and deep valleys, all making it more difficult .to drain andclean the barrel, depending on the degree of the profile, especially inthe area of the chimes which surround the tap fitting. When the barrelis inverted, the liquid collects within the double-walled rim or chimesand requires a series of intricate maneuvers of the barrel beforecomplete drainage is obtained.

One of the objects of the present invention is the provision of aseparately fabricated chime structure for an improved barrelconstruction. The improved barrel has a smooth dome-shape head or endwall from which the tap fitting projects and the separately fabricatedchime structure is secured to the outside surface of the dome-shape endwall, preferably by a spot welding process. Therefore, the interiorsurface of the domeshape end wall does not present any deep collectingareas when the barrel is inverted and drainage as well as cleaning isgreatly facilitated.

The double-walled rims or chimes can be produced by high productionstamping methods and in the manner formed provide unusual strength whensecured in place on the barrel.

Another object of the invent-ion is to form the chime structures so asto present a fiat top surface on which a board may be supported to formone leg in a tier of such barrels. In practice, the plurality of barrelsare arranged in side-by-side relationship and a fiat board or boards areplaced across the plurality of fiat surfaces so presented by the chimestructures and then other barrels are arranged in a similar side-by-sidefashion on top of the board. Generally the arrangement is staggered sothat no one barrel is being directly supported on top of another barrel;although with the present chime construction this could be done withoutany damage occurring.

A further object of the invention is to interrupt the spacing of thechimes secured to the dome-shape end wall so that the chimes onlypartially encircle the tap fitting. This is done so that the areas ofthe heads of the barrels having the tap fitting projecting outwardlytherefrom may be readily flushed to clean away any surface accumulationof dirt and debris and prevent the flushing water from collecting inpools about or around the tap fitting within the well of the usual chimestructure.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a partiallyencircling three-dimensional chime structure which will affordprotection to the tap fitting from inadvertent damage.

A preferred embodiment for carrying out the invention and its objects aswell as other objects inherent in its construction is shown by way ofexample in the accompanying drawings and described in detail herein.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a barrel, illustrating the disposition of thechime structures with respect to the tap fitting.

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation of the barrel with the upper part thereoftaken in section along line 2--2 of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2 first, a barrel is illustrated, indicated generallyat 10, constructed of stainless steel and having a dome-shape end wall.12. The end wall constitutes a pant of the upper shell or bowl-likemember 14. The upper shell is secured to the medial section 16 by afusion welding process. The medial section in turn is secured by asimilar process to a lower shell or cup-like member 18.

The medial section 16 is bulged outwardly from the periphery of theupper and lower shells in order to provide annulal flattened bearing orrolling surfaces 20 on which the barrel may be trundled.

The barrel is preferably provided with circumferential corrugations at2.2 and 24 in order to add to the strength of the construction and toenable the barrel to better withstand hard usage.

Projecting outwardly from the center of the domeshape end wall 12 is atap fitting 26 which is also fusion welded, as indicated at 28, to forma part of the integral barrel unit.

The invention is indicated at 30 and consists of two unitary and arcuatestamped chime structures spot welded to the outer surface of thedome-shape end wall 12 as indicated at 32, for example. The shape of thestructures could be described as similar to the arcuate shape of kidneybeans and in the manner attached, partly encircle the tap fitting 26, asmay be observed from FIG. 1. Each double-walled rim or chimeconstruction is stamped from a single sheet of metal; although it mayalso be molded if the nature of the material used lends itself morereadily to that process.

Each stamping construction presents a circumflexed, arcuate fiat planartop surface 34. The arcuate side surfaces 36 preferably slope downwardlyand taper slightly outwardly from all points of the periphery of the topsurface so that the transverse distance across the bottom of thestamping construction is greater than at the top. The side surfacesmerge at their base into an inclined peripheral flange 38 which extendscontinuously around side surfaces 3 6 and projects angularly outwardlyfrom their lower edges in such manner as to conform to the surface ofthe dome-shape end Wall 12 so that said flange 38 may be subsequentlyspot welded thereto. This results in an unusually strong but simpleconstruction in which the flat arcuate surfaces aiford means forvertical stacking such barrels.

Although two chime constructions or double-walled rims are illustratedpartially encircling the tap fitting, obviously the size of thefabricated chimes could be such as to permit additional ones to besimilarly secured and still maintain the disconnected character of theconstnuction to fulfill the objects of the invention, if deemeddesirable or advantageous.

What is claimed is: V

1. In a barrel having a dome shape end wall surface, a pair ofdisconnected double-walled chime sections, each of said chime sectionscomprising a unitary fabricated structure having a circumflexed flat topsurface and outwardly sloping side surfaces projecting downwardly fromthe periphery of said circumflexed surface, said sloping surfacesbordered at their base by an inclined angular peripheral flange, eachsaid peripheral flange of said pair shaped to conform with and besecured to the end wall surface of said barrel and each chime sectionextending axially beyond and partially encircling said end 4 wallsurface so as to leave portions of the end Wall surface free between therespective adjacent ends of said pair of chime sections for the drainageof accumulations of Water or beverage.

2. A barrel having a dome shape end wall surface, a discontinuousdouble-Walled chime structure secured to said end wall surface andfabricated from a plurality of arcuate metal stampings, each metalstamping having a flat planar end surface and outwardly sloping arcuateside surfaces all projecting axially outwardly beyond said barrel endwall surface to provide h'andholds for gripping, said sloping surfaceseach bordered at its base by an outwardly projecting continuousperipheral flange conformiug and secured to said end Wall surface, andthe planar fiat end surfaces of said chime structure being formed sothat a plurality of said barrels may be vertically stacked one upon theother.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,038,420 Coakley Apr. 21, 1936 2,128,297 Ingersoll Aug. 30, 1938 FOREIGNPATENTS 759,545 Fnance Nov. 23, 1933 689,628 Great Britain Apr. 1, 1953

1. IN A BARREL HAVING A DOME SHAPE END WALL SURFACE, A PAIR OFDISCONNECTED DOUBLE-WALLED CHIME SECTIONS, EACH OF SAID CHIME SECTIONSCOMPRISING A UNITARY FABRICATED STRUCTURE HAVING A CIRCUMFLEXED FLAT TOPSURFACE AND OUTWARDLY SLOPING SIDE SURFACES PROJECTING DOWNWARDLY FROMTHE PERIPHERY OF SAID CIRCUMFLEXED SURFACE, SAID SLOPING SURFACESBORDERED AT THEIR BASE BY AN INCLINED ANGULAR PERIPHERAL FLANGE, EACHSAID PERIPHERAL FLANGE OF SAID PAIR SHAPED TO CONFORM WITH AND BESECURED TO THE END WALL SURFACE OF SAID BARREL AND EACH CHIME SECTIONEXTENDING AXIALLY BEYOND AND PARTIALLY ENCIRCLING SAID END WALL SURFACESO AS TO LEAVE PORTIONS OF THE END WALL SURFACE FREE BETWEEN THERESPECTIVE ADJACENT ENDS OF SAID PAIR OF CHIME SECTIONS FOR THE DRAINAGEOF ACCUMULATIONS OF WATER OR BEVERAGE.